Christians will disagree about preferences. Romans 14, 1 Corinthians 8, and 1 Corinthians 10 are passages that deal with this exact issue. Preferences of application cannot be sin. This would exclude it from the category of Christian liberty. If your application of the word leads to breaking of a direct command or prohibition, then it is no longer a legitimate application (See Mark 7). Each person is directed by his own conscience in the matters of preference.

I have been thinking lately on the place of conscience, Christian liberty, and how we should relate to one another with our preferences. As a young Christian, I had a very low tolerance for any Christian liberty, and the result was that I was overly prescriptive for those around me, and honestly, I was extremely proud about what I had seen in the Bible. It was not just a way, it was the way to obey God. Thankfully the Lord rerouted my ideas and helped me to value those who were doers of the word, rather than doers of my preferences. Here are a few thoughts on the subject that I wanted to share here.

Conscience

God has given to each person a conscience which helps to discern what is right and wrong (Rom 2:15). God has given a conscience to those who are saved and unsaved. The conscience is like the check engine light of the soul, alerting to the fact that something might not be right. And while the conscience is a guide, it is not infallible. There are those with a weaker or stronger conscience (1 Cor 8). Sometimes the conscience is weak and forbids something that is not actually forbidden by God. Other times it can be seared, allowing what God has forbidden (1 Tim 4:2, Titus 1:15). Even though the conscience is fallible, it is the Christian duty to walk according to our conscience, because to disobey the conscience is faithless, and therefore sin (Rom 14:23).

We must strive to have a good and clear conscience (1 Peter 3:16, Acts 23:1). We need this good and clear conscience within ourselves and before God. Having a good and clear conscience means that there is nothing in our lives for which our conscience pricks us. We have lived our lives as best we know by the direction of God in His word. No matter what anyone else says, we have walked in integrity both before man and before God.

And this is a most important point: Our conscience is subservient to the Holy Spirit through the Bible. Since our consciences are fallible, our consciences must be submitted to the Word of God. If our conscience is pricked when it shouldn’t be, we should yield to God’s word. If our conscience is not pricked when it should be, we should yield to God’s word. The conscience is never to rule over the Spirit and the Bible, but is a servant of the Spirit to guide us.

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